Feature

"How to become a good lawyer"

Sharin Shajahan Naomi

The students of law who want to take up legal practice as their profession (there are many law students who don't want to be a professional lawyer), always remain in tension about their future - under which lawyer would I get started? How many years will it take to settle down? Shall I be able to encounter the environment in the courts? Such types of questions prick the young law students since the beginning of their law course. To give these tensed law students a respite, at least to assure them about their prestigious profession, a worthwhile initiative was taken in the premises of Department of Law, University of Dhaka in the Bangladesh Law Association (Ain Shomiti) Auditorium, (Organised By: Law Forum In Association With: Bangladesh Legal Education and Services Trust (BLEST)

The three students behind this initiative were, Md. Al Amin Sagar from 4th Year ( The main speaker of the paper ' How to become a good lawyer), Co Speaker: Jahid Hossain Hero from 3rd Year and Co-ordinator: Abdus Salam from 4th Year. And the honorable guest who graced the occasion was A F Hassan Ariff, former Attorney General of Bangladesh, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of Bangladesh.

The paper began with a quotation of MK Gandhi '“A true lawyer is one who places truth and service in the first place and the emolument of the profession in the next.'

Al Amin Sagar with his co speaker explained the term 'lawyer', the process of becoming a lawyer in subordinate courts, qualifications for admission as an advocate, process of enrollment of advocates in higher courts, qualifications of a good lawyer and some other technical issues which are mandatory for law students to grasp to be a good lawyer.

The issues discussed in the paper were very much relevant to the professional skills of a lawyer, which unfortunately are not taught in our academic courses. The students' enthusiasm reached higher when the guest shared his initial experience and struggles as an amateur lawyer. He encouraged the students to face the probable hardships of an amateur lawyer as a challenge to have a prosperous professional life.

It was the common question from the students as to how to encounter the frustration that comes quite naturally when a law student enters a chamber and works down to dusk under a senior lawyer tolerating his whimsical attitude and giving mental labour almost free of cost. The veteran lawyer told us that students who would be totally unable to endure such nitty gritty of this profession, it would be better for them to go looking for a job for immediate income. But if a law student can carry on with such hardship for at least 3 or 5 years, he or she will have bright life with handsome income.

He advised us to have patience and faith on our noble profession. He also expressed his satisfaction in having a nice time with the law students in such a friendly atmosphere. The event ended with a realization that the profession we have chosen and the dream we cherish through this profession is very much dependent on our unwavering patience and hard work.

A message to all the potential lawyers through a simple initiative in Law Department, DU